PRESS CONFERENCE OF
NATO SPOKESMAN JAMIE SHEA
AND AIR COMMODORE DAVID WILBY, SHAPE
SUNDAY, 4 APRIL 1999

Jamie Shea

Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon to you, may I wish you all a very
happy Easter Sunday. Today the North Atlantic Council has once again, as
you would imagine, ladies and gentlemen, focussed on the humanitarian
situation. Our most urgent concern and priority. Yesterday, a further
80,000 people were expelled from Kosovo. We are also facing, as you know,
a dire situation with about 60,000 trapped in a no-mans-land between the
borders of Albania and the border of the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia in Kosovo, in that strip of territory in the south. Many of them
have been without food now for over 48 hours.

Yesterday 15,000 more entered Albania, bringing the total there to 190,000,
with 90,000 in Kukes alone, and as you know there is still a stream of
refugees today into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia where already
the system is overloaded, trying to cope with 131,000 refugees.

Now, as you know, in the last 24-48 hours NATO has been mobilising itself
and mobilising its member nations to provide immediate assistance. General
Sir Michael Jackson, the Commander of the Allied forces in the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is now fully in charge of the situation, he
has received full authority from the Council to direct all of our relief
operations. Yesterday already, his troops in the Alliance Rapid Reaction
Corps and in the enabling force started tackling the problem with immediate
and I think, good effect. They are preparing food and water and
transporting that up to the border areas where the refugees of course are
now largely stationed, they have constructed, or are constructing six sites
for refugees, three of these are already partially operational and are
already accommodating 3,500 refugees. The fourth site will be ready in a
few days and those sites will enable the NATO forces to be able to provide
accommodation for 20,000 refugees very, very soon.

At the same time, the NATO forces in the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia are coordinating the arrival of humanitarian airlifts at Skopja
airport, offloading food and supplies. We are also looking to see if those
humanitarian planes can take back with them, to NATO countries, refugees.
And we are very encouraged today by the fact that the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia has decided to process further refugees on its border.

In the last 24 hours, as I mentioned, many NATO countries have offered to
re-settle refugees on a temporary basis for instance: Germany, Greece,
Norway, Turkey, Canada and the USA. Just to give you an example of what
NATO countries are doing to take the pressure off Albania and the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

In fact, when it comes to humanitarian assistance, money, food
pharmaceuticals, medicine. All NATO countries, every single one of the 19
are providing assistance at the moment. I have the latest statistics for
those of you who are interested after my briefing.

Yesterday the Secretary General spoke once again to Mrs. Ogota, the Head of
the UN High Commission for Refugees, to assess what we can do to help.
Mrs. Ogota suggested four areas where NATO could provide immediate
assistance. Airlift management. Off-loading and storage of relief
supplies. Logistical help in establishing refugee camps and to help
receiving refugees on a temporary basis which is exactly what the NATO
countries are now doing generously.

Now, as a further step, as I speak to you today, we are holding, here at
NATO Headquarters, an emergency coordination meeting of the important
international organisations involved in the relief effort. The idea is to
develop a practical no-nonsense, non bureaucratic, coordinated approach
bringing the military and the civilian aspects into close harmony to have
the most effective, immediate impact on the situation.

Today, we have the European Union present. Both the German Presidency and
also the Commission, representing of course the EU countries. We have the
OSCE, the Western European Union, the Council of Europe and of course the
UNHCR. This meeting is being chaired jointly by NATO and the European
Union which I think is a good example of the developing cooperation of our
two institutions, particularly in this humanitarian field. And I hope
later today to be able to inform you, in more detail, of the immediate
results of that meeting, which, as I have said is still on-going.

At the same time, in just a few moments we are expecting SHAPE to submit to
us two concepts of operations for NATO assistance to Albania. The first
one is going to deal with airlift, and the second one is going to deal, as
I told you yesterday, with the rapid deployment of a forward headquarters
into Albania, backed up quickly by NATO force elements to provide a central
coordinating authority for refugee assistance in support of the government
and in support of the UNHCR. And I will obviously keep you posted on that.

However, already, NATO countries have delivered helicopters to Albania to
help transport supplies up from Tirana to Kukes where the bulk of the
refugees are now located, as you well know and also to bring out those that
need immediate medical assistance.

Finally, in the field of humanitarian assistance. NATO is working on a
daily basis with EUROCONTROL which coordinates, as you know, airspace
management and regional airports in the theatre, to facilitate the rapid
flow and off-loading of humanitarian supplies and to de-conflict those
humanitarian airlifts with of course the military operations on-going over
the Adriatic and in the region as a whole.

I would like at this stage, as we look at the Kosovo crisis, to reiterate
to you NATO's fundamental objectives in the Kosovo crisis and what I would
like to point out, whatever you may have thought and heard yesterday, is
that NATO's objectives have not, I repeat not, changed. At this moment no
new political decisions have been taken. We stand by those objectives that
we want a democratic, peaceful, multi-ethnic Kosovo. We want Yugoslavia to
stop, once and for all, its policy of repression and expulsion of the
Kosovar Albanians. We want to provide an environment in which all
refugees, all refugees, are able to return without fear of further
intimidation or repression. It is a basic moral right of the international
community to ensure that those who have been forced from their homes are
able to go back and we are convinced that the safe return of refugees will
require the deployment of an international military presence to uphold an
environment of security without which refugees will not be able, or want,
to return, and in the Rambouillet Agreement, of course, it is provided for
a NATO-led force. And finally, we want to be able to achieve a durable
political settlement for Kosovo based on the Rambouillet Agreement.

Let me move on, if I may, briefly, to our contacts with neighbouring
countries. I have been stressing in these briefings that we are very keen
to coordinate, cooperate, consult, inform neighbouring countries, many of
which are providing assistance and which of course are also concerned, at
the moment not to be unduly affected by the destabilising repercussions of
the Kosovo crisis.

Yesterday the Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ambassador
Kleiber, held another multilateral collective briefing with the seven
countries in this group. There is another briefing for them this
afternoon. And tomorrow, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Ambassador
Sergio Balanzino will start on a trip to four of the countries. He will be
going first to Romania, then to Bulgaria, then to the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, returning here on Wednesday. His mission is to
consult with the governments at senior level on the Kosovo crisis. To
express to them NATO's support and active assistance and of course to
assess, at first hand, the situation on the ground, particularly in Albania
and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

I would like, if I may briefly, before handing over to David, just to say a
few closing words.

Firstly, I was asked yesterday a question about the circumstances of
Ibrahim Regova. I would like to inform you that one of our NATO Allies has
had contacts in the last few hours with some close associates of Ibrahim
Regova, and from those contacts we have learned that his house is
permanently occupied by Serb security forces. His family is able to live
only on the first floor of that house. He has no freedom of movement but
has to report to the local police station several times a day. It seems
from these contacts of Regova, again I stress these are contacts of Regova
as communicated to a NATO Ally. That the message that he gave and which
was conveyed by Serb television, where he was reported to have called for a
halt to NATO's actions, was in fact a call for the cessation of violence in
Kosovo and it was altered in the transcription and those sources believe
that the pictures that you saw on Serb tv of Regova with Milosovic go back
to about two years ago when the ................. called on setting up, as
you know Albanian language education in Kosovo was signed.

Now, again, I am not going to say that all of this is something which I
can totally confirm but it is simply information in response to a question
that I was asked yesterday as provided by one NATO Ally. That's the best
knowledge that we have at the moment as to the circumstances of Ibrahim
Regova.

This morning we had a very impressive message from the Pope, as you know,
calling for a stop to the cruel shedding of human blood and casting his
thoughts, particularly at this Eastertime, to all of the people who have
been killed, made homeless, been torn from their families and forced to
flee. NATO fully shares those thoughts and those concerns.

Finally, today is a somewhat special day here because, not only is it
Easter Sunday when our thoughts always go to the victims of this world, but
it's also NATO's fiftieth anniversary. I am sure that none of us thought a
few years ago that this would be the circumstances in which we would mark
NATO's 50th anniversary. But then this organisation was not set up to deal
with the happy situations in life. It was set up to deal with the tough
crisis situations which we now face. But I can assure you that if we can
mark this 50th anniversary year by bringing peace to Kosovo and stopping
the repression that will be a perfectly happy substitute for a birthday party.

David.

Air Commodore Wilby

Thank you Jamie. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

In Kosovo FRY military forces are moving westward from their positions in
the Malisevo area to engage the UCK forces in the border region with
Albania. This is the last area in which the UCK will be able to mount a
serious resistance. Their recruiting is reportedly buoyant, especially
amongst male refugees and they are undoubtedly starting the process of
rebuilding their force.

The humanitarian crisis is deepening with many thousands waiting to cross
the border into Macedonia. There have been reports of deaths, largely from
hypothermia, amongst those tired, hungry, rain-soaked and mistreated
people. As I told you yesterday, the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction
Corps, or the ARRC as we it, is very active in Macedonia. It is providing
assistance and evolving the organisation necessary to help the UNHCR deal
with this overwhelming disaster. Progress is being made and already tents
have been erected to house 11,000 people. 25,000 meals have been served in
the last 24 hours and more relief is on the way. We are still working on
our concept of operations to provide the same assistance in Albania.

We are urgently formulating the organisation and plans to dovetail the flow
of aircraft carrying humanitarian aid in with the activities associated
with our operational mission. This is a complex task but we are moving
ahead quickly. We are confident that with the goodwill and excellent
liaison existing between all the major agencies involved, we will be able
to manage this problem efficiently and without detriment to our combat
operations. Obviously this relief effort is vital, but we still have a
considerable way to go with the air campaign..

Turning to the air campaign. While poor weather affected some of our
sorties both manned and cruise missiles were able to hit their targets.
Because of weather considerations our air effort was concentrated around
Belgrade with attacks being conducted against major army and security force
facilities in the city including the headquarters of the Yugoslav First
Army. We also struck the Belgrade internal security institute and
important petroleum depots. These were all military and military-related
facilities that were judged critical targets to our overall campaign
effectiveness. They were successfully attacked and collateral damage
remains low.

Attacks outside Belgrade were against highway bridges another petroleum
storage area and an ammunition plant. Whilst I have no imagery to show you
I can assure you that the very hot spots that we had imaged, and coverage
from Serbian television, give us a very warm feeling as to the success of
these attacks.

Surface-to-air missile activity was again light and happily once again we
lost no aircraft. Although one F-16 diverted into another base with a
mechanical problem. It landed safely. Equally, we did not claim any
Serbian aircraft in the air.

If you recall yesterday, I showed you Serbian tv pictures of the damaged
MUP building in Belgrade. I can now show you some our own imagery covering
the damage. This is the building before the attack and you will note that I
have highlighted with a green arrow the position of the hospital which has
been mentioned in the media. And the second slide shows you it after the
attack. You will notice the destruction on the front end of the building.

Finally, I have one clip to show you today, it is a weapon video from one
of our recent attacks against a radar site near Pristina. This site had
been an important part of the FRY integrated air defence system within
Kosovo. This element no longer poses a threat to our air crews.

As you have seen, NATO military forces are striking in the FRY heartlands
and will continue to do so. President Milosovic and his forces will pay a
high price for their crimes against humanity. But keep in mind, NATO
military forces are only targeting military-related assets. Our struggle
is with the FRY authorities not with the Serb people.

Jamie Shea

OK. Patricia please.

Patricia Kelly, CNN

Jamie, on the refugee front you said yesterday that you were worried that
refugees might be pushed towards Montenegro. What can NATO do to help the
situation there should that occur?

Jamie Shea

Well, good question, thank you Patricia. About 1,000, I didn't mention
this in my briefing, but about 1,000 also entered Montenegro yesterday, but
that is a reduced flow and smaller than numbers in previous days, but
certainly the situation is grave because my understanding is about 15 per
cent of the population of Montenegro is now made up of refugees. Again,
putting an enormous burden on the social system there. What we of course
want to do, in the first instance, is to try to stabilise the situation in
Montenegro and you have heard the clear messages vis-a-vis Belgrade, that
have come out from NATO countries in recent hours regarding any attempt to
undermine the elected government of President Ducanovic of course there.
But for the time being the focus of our efforts is of course on those
places where we are able, effectively, to deliver the humanitarian
supplies. That is to say Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia. We don't yet, at the moment at least, have any direct NATO
assistance programmes into Montenegro. I'm not sure if the UNHCR does,
that's something you will either have to check or you could check through
your own parts.

Patricia Kelly

Can I just follow up. You are not prepared to drop food supplies into
Serbia because the food might go to the military. But would you be able to
drop supplies into Montenegro if the situation got worse?

Jamie Shea

That's a good question. For the time being I cannot give you an
affirmative answer, because I am not aware that that is something that NATO
has looked at yet. But certainly we have had a preliminary look, as David
reported the other day, at the prospects of dropping food supplies into
Kosovo, and the conclusion is, is that first of all there is little
guarantee, as you say, that those packages would get to the right people.
Our aim is not to give Serb soldiers hearty meals. And secondly you would
have to deliver those supplies with low-flying propeller-driven aircraft
for the most part, which in the current environment could be vulnerable to
surface-to-air missiles.

Let's go to another one. Gentleman there. Yes sir.

Stars and Stripes

I have three questions for the Air Commodore. General Clarke said
yesterday that there are indications that Yugoslav Special Forces were
involved in the capture of the three US soldiers. He said it was a
deliberate and premeditated act to humiliate and intimidate US leadership.
Can you tell us what indications that you do have that these Special Forces
were involved and if there were any incursions and any update on the three
captured American soldiers. Also, there are thirteen F-117 Stealth
Fighters coming to Europe. The German press has reported that they are
going to ............... Airbase because Aviano is full. Can you confirm
this and there has been indications in Washington that Apache Helicopters
will be used in air strikes. When will they be used and where will they
come from? Bosnia, Germany or the US?

Jamie Shea

Ok, well that's a good load of questions for you.

Air Commodore Wilby

And I'm afraid that for such a long series of questions my answers to you
are going to be very limited because of the sensitivity of the questions
that you have so carefully put to me.

First of all, as to the episode of our soldiers. I can give you no more
information on that whatsoever.

As to where Stealth Fighters may go, once again, that is a disposition of
our forces and not one which I am prepared to release to you today.

And finally, in the same vein, and I am sorry the Apache falls into the
same category. It would be wrong of me to tell you where we were going to
base them and how they were going to operate.

Jamie Shea

Well, on the, if I may, because this gentleman is looking for information
to the extent that we can give it. On the US soldiers, the only thing that
I can tell you is that so far we have been unsuccessful in getting access
to them by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Again this is a
violation of the Geneva Convention, Third Geneva Convention, which does
prescribe that the International Committee of the Red Cross should be able
to visit these three.

Secondly you saw yesterday indications that they are going to be put on
trial, or appear before some kind of court. It now looks as if that is
going to happen before the end of the week. That is both in substance and
in technicality also a violation of the Geneva Convention which prescribes
that a much longer notice period has to be given before such individuals
can be put on trial, even if, even if, there was some legitimate basis for
doing so. Which there clearly isn't. These individuals have not done
anything, they have been absolutely no threat whatever to Yugoslavia and
they have been illegally snatched and detained and we still call for their
release.

Ok, that's all I've got on that one.

Christian, please.


Danish Broadcasting

On the refugees, you mentioned a few countries that have committed
themselves to take refugees to the European countries. Did the Secretary
General, or anyone else, ask the rest of the countries to do that duty as
well or is it a common position now that it would be helpful for the
conflict that more of the European countries took refugees out of the area.

Jamie Shea

Thanks for that question. What I gave you was simply some examples because
I know that you like, and I like too to be specific and to give examples.
And those countries, not the only ones, let me be clear, I didn't want to
reel you off an exhaustive list but just to give you an example of how
generous and how rapid countries have been in accepting some of the
refugees and that is a very important part of taking some of the pressure
off Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. But let me
state one thing. What we will not tolerate is a situation where the
temporary becomes the permanent. This is being done strictly on a
humanitarian temporary basis. This in no way weakens our resolve to create
the conditions in Kosovo for those people to go back home. They want to go
home. The idea is not simply to have a new refugee population floating
around Europe, but to get those people back. So our governments, the
governments that are doing this really see it as a temporary measure.

Ok, Nick please.

Journalist

Yes Jamie, you sounded very concerned about the numbers of refugees trapped
in Kosovo itself. Now yesterday you were saying that Sir Michael Jackson
has a mandate to act, a humanitarian mandate to act in any way he likes.
Does that include getting food and medicine to people who are actually in
Kosovo.

Jamie Shea

No, for the time being that is concerned, as you know, with the territory
where he is based, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but he is
being very active there I can assure you. He has set up an emergency
operation centre. He's been asked, and he has redirected all of his
vehicles, his logistics, towards carting up to the frontier water, 200,000
litres is the requirement that he sees. 10,000 ready-to-eat meals per day
and so on. Hopefully the refugees will like military ready-to-eat meals,
but at least they are a form of sustenance, and he will do whatever is
required. Vehicle control and airspace coordination and so on. At the
same time the Council did ask him today to also look at the idea of the
British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, for some kind of sanctuary area on
the border but in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. So we will be
taking up that British idea, examining to what degree, from the NATO point
of view, we can do something on those lines, but there are no plans at this
time to be active in Kosovo, although we hope we can be active in Kosovo
soon in the context of having stopped the violence and moving on to a NATO
peace support operation there which alone, as I said, will allow refugees
to go back.

Let's continue, gentleman there please.

Journalist

Jamie, I was wondering, when do you think, or can you envisage a time when
the refugees will be airlifted out of the areas they are currently in to
the countries in Europe? I mean is there any kind of time line, 24 hours,
48 hours at all?

Jamie Shea

No, I think it's probably going to take longer than that simply given the
numbers, but what I did mention is the humanitarian aircraft which are
taking in supplies as they would normally go back empty wouldn't they? But
this time round they can go back with certain refugees already so that this
thing is beginning to happen.


Yes, lets go to ....

Journalist

Thank you Jamie, it's a question for Air Commodore Wilby.

I understand why you are reluctant on information on the NATO troops NATO
Air Strikes but maybe you can give out more details on the Serb troops in
Kosovo South in terms of how large they are and their tanks as well and
just to attack them it would be the third phase or you are already able.

Air Commodore Wilby

Let me try and answer that question. This week, during the course of the
week, I've been giving you details of various motorised brigades and the
activities of the folk on the ground. I've mentioned Arkan's Tigers, to
name but one of several guerilla groups. We are trying to keep as good a
picture as we can, using all our intelligence sources, to give us a feel
for where those people are and that's really how I can give you an update.

As to precise figures. Then it is more difficult for me to put my hand on
my hear and say to you exactly how many people are there. We can keep a
very good count, not a very good count, we can keep a pretty accurate
account of the number of armoured units, the number of ACPs and tanks that
are moving around and I am pleased to say that already today we have struck
those units on the ground.

Jamie Shea

Doug please.

Journalist

Two questions if I may. Air Commodore Wilby, you announced as a positive
development the fact that the KLA were managing to regroup albeit that they
are pushed practically to the borders of Albania. Is NATO doing anything
to help them. If indeed this is considered something positive.

And for Jamie, if I may try again this question. You have said that NATO's
objectives are not changing but I think some people detect the change in
its strategy and in its demands in that according to Rambouillet Milosovic
was invited to agree to a NATO peacekeeping force now it would seem that
NATO is going to escort ethnic Albanians back to their homes whether he
likes it or not or whether he agrees to it - signed paper or not - it's
going to happen.

Air Commodore Wilby

Doug, let me pick up the first part of your question. And let me say that
NATO in this is the honest broker. Our job is not to take sides and to be
neutral and to watch what goes on, but obviously we are getting reports
from the number of refugees who come flooding through and we are getting a
reasonable idea of the disposition and what sort of status the UCK is in.

Jamie Shea

Doug, what I would say to that at this stage of developments is that the
political objectives, the goals of NATO are clear and have not changed but
obviously we are an Alliance that lives in the real world and the means
with which we will achieve those objectives will always be adapted to the
circumstances that we face. And that is the only answer that I am going to
give you today on that one.

Antonio please.

Yes, sorry, microphone here please, yes that's it.

Journalist

Thanks Jamie, Air Commodore there is one thing I would like you to help me
on. We have been bombing for many days and we understand now the whole of
us that NATO will not go backwards, at the same time, you know better than
I do that to win a war you must go on the ground. What is the solution
now. And after this we have seen yesterday the decision of the Council to
bring 6,000 men into Albania. If I look at the map and I see 12,000 in
Macedonia, 6,000 in Albania and many thousands in Bosnia there is a kind of
a circle around Mr. Milosovic.

To Jamie, the next question was about some change in NATO. We notice not
the change but maybe you trying to adapt to the situation. We know that
Kosovo means a lot to any Serb and that's why Mr. Milosovic has got the
support of the people, that a few days ago were against him. Is there any
possibility for NATO to consider that whatever happens Serbia, Kosovo, will
also be a part of Serbia.

Air Commodore Wilby

Let me try and answer that first part of the question. We are going
forward. Our air campaign is definitely moving forward and I think as I
was talking before this conference to a couple of reporters, you have to
bear in mind that we are in a very complex and difficult situation. The
terrain is difficult, we are fighting in winter, we have been up against
the bad weather. But bear also in mind that before we went into the Gulf
we had something like five to six weeks of an air campaign with far more
aircraft and people and a far more permissive environment. In the time
that we have been conducting our air campaign we have made great inroads
and as I have tried to build up for you this week, without giving you
percentages, and without in some cases giving you hard fact. All I've been
able to try and give you is a feeling that we are moving forward.

As to the wonderful idea of yours that we are producing this encirclement.
The troops that we have in Macedonia under General Jackson are very much
there as the peacekeeping force ready to go in and they have go their hands
full now preparing for that and also dealing with the humanitarian
situation. If we move and I don't think we've quite finalise the numbers
of forces into Albania. Once again, their primary task will be to look
after the humanitarian effort and to make sure that we give the refugees as
much help as we can to get back on their feet.

As to Bosnia, well Bosnia is a long way away and in terms of their own
jobs, they've got a job to do themselves, so whilst it may seem a very
plausible way, I don't think that is anything like the sort of situation
that we find ourselves in.

Jamie Shea

I'm sorry, your question is obviously an extremely good one. It prompts me
to try to do a little thinking from up here.

The fact of the matter is that nobody has been trying to take Kosovo away
from Yugoslavia. We have made it clear all along that the Allies have
never supported the goal of independence for Kosovo, and we still don't, we
still believe that the answer is a highly developed status of autonomy.
After all I mean Kosovo had this until 1989 and nobody is going to tell me
that the situation was worse before 1989 that it became subsequently where
Milosovic took the autonomy away. But, Yugoslavia is, whether it likes it
or not, is a multi-ethnic society, like most European countries, and not
only because of 1.8 million Kosovar Albanians. There is the
Hungarian-speaking community, ethnic Hungarian community, in
.................. there is a sizeable Moslem community. In the Sanjac,
even in Kosovo itself there are Egyptian, Turkish and other ethnic
communities and if I were a sociologist or a student of these matters I
would probably discover more and therefore the future of Yugoslavia
certainly cannot be as a mono-ethnic state. Clearly not. So manifestly
the future of Yugoslavia depends crucially on the ability of the different
ethnic groups to live in some kind of harmony with each other. Now, many
other countries grapple with this problem and have managed more or less to
solve it, or at least to solve it without violence. And, therefore, if
other European countries are able to do this it should not be beyond the
wit of Yugoslavia to find a formula for this as well, and that is why our
goal is a democratic Kosovo. But at the same time, there is no doubt that,
autonomy works better in democratic states than in authoritarian ones,
because democratic states clearly are more willing to make the compromises
and do the power-sharing to allow different communities to have autonomy
together.

And that's the best answer I can give you.

Now, Molosovic had a golden opportunity, presented to him on a plate in
France just a few weeks ago in the form of the Rambouillet Agreement. And
many legitimate Serb interests were taken into account in that Rambouillet
Agreement. It would have protected the Serb minority of Kosovo from the
majority Albanian community as well as protecting the Kosovar Albanian
minority in Yugoslavia from the Serb majority. It was a very balanced
agreement. But Milosovic refused it. And made it clear that he was
interested in a military solution. That is why NATO has acted.

Ah, yes now we will go to the gentleman from Turkish television.

Journalist

Jamie, you said that NATO is working very closely with EUROCONTROL for the
airspace managing and that early this morning the Turkish Prime Minister
declared that there was a problem with Bulgaria because Bulgaria does not
authorise the Turkish humanitarian aeroplane to go to Albania, I think. Do
you have any information regarding this.

The second thing is that you said that NATO objective has not changed yet.
But ok if the objective has not changed does the way to reach the objective
change a little bit and last thing is, Russia declared two days ago that
it will give some humanitarian aid to Yugoslavia so how do we know that
inside this humanitarian aid there isn't any spare parts for weapons or
things like that. Is there such a guarantee.

Jamie Shea

On the last question. Obviously there is an embargo of the United Nations
prohibiting arms imports into Yugoslavia and I think it is incumbent on all
members of the UN and the UN Security Council to respect that because they
voted it so those who voted it must respect it clearly.

On the first aspect of your question regarding Bulgaria. I don't have any
information at all on overflights there so I can't answer that question.

And would you remind me of your second question.

Journalist

NATO's objective hasn't changed.

Jamie Shea

Well I answered that question when Doug asked it earlier so I think I will
stick with my answer on that occasion.


Madam Savage please.

Madam Savage

First of all, I would like to congratulate NATO defence Alliance on its
50th Anniversary and to wish you a peaceful Easter.

And my question to the Air Commodore is.

How do you define, could you define this military target and especially
military related targets. For example we know that two bridges were hit.
Can you confirm that it is exclusively military targets or there is a
civilian aspect of this. Could we expect that for example a food factory
could be hit just because it can be used for military food.

And for Jamie, can you please answer for me the consequence of these
targets. Is NATO facing the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe in
Serbia itself.

Thank you.

Air Commodore Wilby

Mrs. Savage, thank you for your greetings and thank you for your question.

I've tried to explain to you this week that the targeting process, how we
select our targets is a very careful one. It's a difficult operation and
one on which we spend an enormous amount of time, meticulous effort to try
and make sure that the targets we go against are military-related
facilities. I've said time and time again that our fight. Our conflict is
not with the people. It is with the government and the regime. Now
sometimes the targets that we may choose. Bridges, the highway bridges
that we have been taking down recently. Of course they do interrupt the
flow of civilian traffic and for that you know we are very sorry, but this
isn't a cricket match. We are really having to press hard against the
Serbian military and special police units. We know that taking those
bridges down, whilst it causes some inconvenience to civilians, it is
causing immense inconvenience to the units that we are trying to stop
resupplying their forces down in the heart of Kosovo with the ammunition,
the fuel and the supplies to keep up their activities.

But, let me assure you, we will never go for a food factory, and before any
target is chosen it will be subjected to the utmost political and military
scrutiny to make sure that we are doing as minimal amount of damage as
necessary to get the job done and particularly I think, during this
religious festival, sometimes to try and save mankind in general there is
sometimes a bit of sacrifice and pain that has to be experienced. But it
is not any wish of any of our soldiers, our sailors, our marines or airmen,
that we should bring undue suffering to any of the civilian population of
Serbia.

Jamie Shea

A question was directed to me so I will do my best to answer it.

The best answer I can give is that NATO countries have been spending the
best part of the last five years helping Serbs. I have seen it at first
hand in Eastern Slavonia during the United Nations Mission there to which
Belgium and other Allies contributed in a major way, which for a long
period protected the rights of the Serbs there and guaranteed that their
housing rights, their human rights, their voting rights, educational rights
were upheld until such time as we worked out a satisfactory solution for
the re-integration of Eastern Slavonia into Croatia. We spent our time
defending Serbs.

Secondly, for the last three or four years I have been going, practically
every month with the Secretary General to Bosnia where ..... well into its
fourth year has been spending its time helping Serbs in
........................ Rebuilding schools, reconstructing a railroad
system, reconnecting the telephone system, helping with all kinds of
projects and NATO governments have been in the forefront of giving economic
aid to the RS to try to bring the standard of living up vis-a-vis the
Federation and many Serbs are grateful, as you know to ............ there
in Bosnia. So really, this is not something which should ever be
considered on an ethnic line. We are against dictatorships and brutality,
no matter what ethnic badge they carry, and we always will be and as I said
yesterday, my sense, the sense of all of us is that if the people of
Yugoslavia are suffering today, it's not because of NATO. Since President
Milosovic came to power at the end of the 1980's the standard of living for
the average Yugoslav has taken a belly-dive and doesn't show signs of
getting any better. It's Milosovic who has isolated a great people from
the European mainstream where it belongs and this is a tragedy of course
for the whole region but first and foremost for the people of Yugoslavia
themselves. And really, all of us at NATO want to look rapidly to the end
of this Kosovo crisis and to the time where we can look beyond it to set in
train a programme. A regional development programme for the area including
Yugoslavia, to which NATO could contribute through its Partnership for
Peace style cooperation programmes and contacts involving other
institutions. We don't want Yugoslavia to be a prior state, which it has
become unfortunately. And as I say we want to finish this job in
Yugoslavia to solve the situation there so that we can start turning our
attention towards the whole business of political reconstruction.

Ken that's the best answer I can give you, but again, we have no quarrel
with the Serb people. I repeat my point that I believe that many Serb
people are probably rather aggrieved by what is going on in Kosovo along
with their European brethren.

Let's just take one final question for today, gentleman there in the red
shirt.

Journalist

Question for the Air Commodore.

Can you confirm reports that the weather is now clearing and the prospects
of good weather over Yugoslavia is increasing in the next 24 hours.

And the second question. How many aircraft do you now have in the theatre
of operations? Regarding that Theodore Roosevelt has arrived.

Air Commodore Wilby

I'm not prepared to give you the numbers of aircraft that we've got but it
is expanding. But what I would say with a big smile on my face is that the
weather is turning and I can assure you that we are geared up to make the
absolute most of the break in the weather and you will see us press home
our attacks, particularly against the forces on the ground.

Jamie Shea

Ok. I think that is probably enough for today ladies and gentlemen. Thank
you for coming and the same briefing at the same time tomorrow. 3 p.m.
Thank you.